Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD

Residential Treatment of PTSD at CooperRiis

Therapy — individual and group therapy, as recognized by The National Institute of Mental Health — provides an effective form of treatment for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

Therapy can:

Teach relaxation skills

Help people deal with overwhelming feelings about a triggering event

Educate people about how trauma affects the brain and body

Teach effective emotional management

Provide tips for better sleep, diet, and exercise

Help people change how they react to PTSD symptoms

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach used at CooperRiis that has been proven effective for the treatment of trauma.

In addition to group and individual therapy, other healing modalities such as massage, yoga, and meditation can be effective for PTSD. We teach wellness skills to add to a ‘toolbox’ of coping skills. Residents learn to access this toolbox if they begin to experience overwhelming symptoms.

When a resident learns how to manage overwhelming feelings, it is freeing. Many residents with PTSD avoid social interactions because they are afraid they will be triggered in public. But if a resident has the skills to cope when triggered, avoidance often diminishes.

PTSD and Healing Community: Treating the Whole Person

Building a sense of physical and emotional safety is vital for those recovering from trauma. We provide a welcoming, caring and compassionate community that respects people’s emotional state and supports them. We also take the time to get to know the whole person and nurture all a person’s strengths.

At CooperRiis residents spend much of their waking time in the company of supportive staff and peers. Some of this time is spent on one of a variety of work crews. Structured work routines provide a sense of purpose and opportunities to work collaboratively. Residents can practice taking risks and sharing with others as well as addressing triggers to PTSD. Purposeful routines demonstrate to residents that what they do matters to others and that they are valuable to the community. Every facet of the resident’s life is addressed.

Seven Domains of a Whole, Healthy Person*

Physical wellness

Emotional and psychological health

Spirituality

Intellectual creativity and learning

Social and community connectedness

Purpose, productivity, and fulfillment

Empowerment and independence

Our residents work with an interdisciplinary recovery team which is comprised of professionals with expertise in the above domains. Because every person is different, some domains will receive more emphasis than others, but all will be attended to.

The Seven Domains Enhanced Recovery Model by Sharon Young, Ph.D.

Treatment of dual diagnosis at CooperRiis

What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event or learning that a traumatic event has happened to a loved one. PTSD is most often associated with veterans and wartime involvement, but there are many experiences that can cause PTSD. Some examples are:

Threat of death or serious injury

Sexual abuse, violence and rape

Chronic physical abuse, severe emotional abuse and neglect

Living through natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, or fires

Community violence like attacks at a local school

The suicide of a friend or family member

Post-traumatic stress disorder often accompanies other anxiety disorders, mood disorders like depression, or substance use. Women are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. People with PTSD often relive traumatic events through flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive memories which can be almost as stressful as the original event. Although people do develop PTSD from experiencing natural disasters, trauma caused by other people is more likely to result in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Difference between ‘Everyday’ Anxiety and PTSD

Anxiety often serves as a warning system that alerts us to threats. Anxiety helps protect us from harm and helps us react quickly when we are in danger. When anxiety becomes excessive and is no longer beneficial, it may become an anxiety disorder such as PTSD.

In the case of PTSD, people re-experience the traumatic event that originally triggered their symptoms even when no actual threat is present. People suffering from PTSD experience a cycle of distressing intrusive memories and states of high anxiety. Behaviors, such as isolation, can emerge to avoid triggering anxiety. People experiencing the symptoms of PTSD often describe themselves as overwhelmed.

Signs and Symptoms of PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed after a person experiences symptoms for at least one month following a traumatic event. However, symptoms do not always appear quickly. It can take months, or even years, for PTSD symptoms to manifest.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by four main types of symptoms:

Wellness Recovery Action Plan® or WRAP®

We ask that all residents participate in WRAP, a group that discusses what wellness and recovery look like. WRAP stands for:

Wellness – Recovery – Action – Plan

WRAP sessions are an opportunity for residents to identify:

What it looks like when things are going well

Helpful daily maintenance activities

Their most significant triggers

Early signs that symptoms may be worsening

What typically happens for them when things are breaking down

And most importantly, it develops a personalized plan for dealing with adverse symptoms when they appear.

Residents complete a written copy of their Wellness and Recovery Action Plan. The plan becomes a useful way for them to identify patterns and a helpful guide for how to maintain a healthy and productive life.

PTSD Medications and Supplements

Medications and supplements, such as vitamins, minerals, and plant extracts, help manage the symptoms of PTSD, such as nightmares and anxiety, and lessen the intensity of the triggering events. The medications most commonly used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Medication aids the recovery process, and in conjunction with other therapies offered at CooperRiis, can be highly effective.

We always aim for the lowest dose of medication for the highest effect. The resident is fully involved in this process by keeping us apprised of how he or she is feeling, and if the symptoms have subsided. Overall quality of life should improve along with symptom reduction. Our goal is for medication that works long-term and with the fewest symptoms and side effects.

This combination of our community, our work program, therapy, and medication all contribute to healing and recovery.

Hope

Although the symptoms of PTSD can be overwhelming and daunting, at CooperRiis we believe that recovery is achievable. Informed by a recovery model that emphasizes possibility over illness or symptoms the focus shifts to hope. Building hope can be incredibly empowering for those suffering with PTSD. The work we do with our residents to create a Dream Statement (link to another page) helps people both envision and work towards a brighter future.

Family Members

The symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as increased vigilance, avoidance or intrusive memories, can impact close relationships. Loved ones may struggle to understand and support a person in distress.

At CooperRiis we provide family members with education that helps them understand the resident’s reactions to trauma. Family members learn how the resident developed various coping strategies like avoidance and how to support the recovery process.

Family involvement is incredibly important to the staff of CooperRiis. We know from research that family support of people with mental health challenges can reduce rates of re-hospitalization by up to 75 percent. We have also learned that with support the whole family fares better. Being a part of a network of families facing similar challenges and experiences often serves to bolster their ability to cope and come together.

CooperRiis supports families through:

Education about the nature of mental illnesses and how to best support a loved one

Regularly scheduled family meetings

Free, 3-Day Family Education Weekends twice a year

A free online course called Families Healing Together

A dedicated family liaison who communicates with family members every other week

Is Mental Health Treatment Effective at CooperRiis?

The CooperRiis’ model of recovery works. Data collected during a ten year study, shows individual recovery progress within the CooperRiis residential program based upon therapeutic community principles and a Seven Domains Enhanced Recovery Model (Young, Schactman and Snyder, 2014).

Results demonstrate recovery progress on many different domains of wellness in addition to symptom reduction, including gains in functioning, emotional well-being, sense of purpose and hopefulness.

Residents routinely make gains in emotional well-being and hopefulness. and over 80 percent of our residents pursue employment, volunteer service or school while in our community programs, and increasingly manage independent living.

About the Author

Michael Groat, MSc, PhD is President and CEO of CooperRiis residential treatment program located in Asheville and Mill Spring, North Carolina. Michael earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from SUNY-Albany. Prior to joining CooperRiis, he was associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, where he also served as director of the division of adult services at the Menninger Clinic.

Michael is also a former candidate in adult psychoanalysis at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Houston, and completed a 4-year fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center. He has published on suicide prevention, applications of attachment research, and uses of clinical outcomes, and has lectured nationally and internationally on the same. Michael has long-standing interest in suicide prevention, therapeutic communities, organizational and systemic interventions, personality assessment, and intensive psychotherapy.

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